Battle of Saint-Martin-de-Varreville

The Battle of Saint-Martin-de-Varreville occurred on 6 June 1944 during Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Normandy. Saint-Martin-de-Varreville was home to a German coastal artillery battery, as well as a church being used as an aid station by the Wehrmacht; the town was one of the objectives of the US 101st Airborne Division during Mission Albany. Patrick F. Cassidy's group of the US 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment was tasked with the capture of Saint-Martin-de-Varreville, assaulting the town at 6:30 AM, the same time as the Utah Beach landings.

The 101st Airborne sought to secure medical supplies to assist the US 82nd Airborne Division, which was supposed to secure a castle on the road to Cherbourg. Corporal Joseph Hartsock was sent with a squad of paratroops to secure as much bandages and plasma as they could find from the church, and the Americans advanced through the roads, houses, and farmsteads of the town, engaging the German 709th Static Infantry Division's forces in the process. Ultimately, the Americans succeeded in securing the church, finding several dead German soldiers on cots, having been abandoned by their retreating comrades. The American paratroops then proceeded to defend the church from the Germans, who had been flushed out of their defensive positions by US Navy bombardments. The retreating Germans were forced to fight against the paratroops, who succeeded in killing or wounding all of the attackers at the church. Soon, American reinforcements were sent to help secure the area, and Saint-Martin-de-Varreville was successfully taken by the Americans, achieving one of the major goals of Mission Albany.